CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by OpenstarTs European Transport \ Trasporti Europei (2012) Issue 52, Paper n° 5, ISSN 1825-3997 Urban Transport in India: Issues, Challenges, and the Way Forward Sanjay Kumar Singh 1 1 Associate Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Lucknow – 226013, India. Abstract Cities and towns play a vital role in promoting economic growth and prosperity. Although less than one-third of India’s people live in cities and towns, these areas generate over two-third of the country’s income and account for 90% of government revenues. In the coming years, as India becomes more and more urbanized, urban areas will play a critical role in sustaining high rates of economic growth. But, economic growth momentum can be sustained if and only if cities function efficiently - that their resources are used to maximize the cities’ contribution to national income. City efficiency largely depends upon the effectiveness of its transport systems, that is, efficacy with which people and goods are moved throughout the city. Poor transport systems stifle economic growth and development, and the net effect may be a loss of competitiveness in both domestic as well as international markets. Although Indian cities have lower vehicle ownership rate, number of vehicles per capita, than their counterparts in developed countries, they suffer from worse congestion, delay, pollution, and accidents than cities in the industrialized world. This paper provides an overview of urban transport issues and challenges in India. Rather than covering every aspect of urban transportation, it primarily focuses on those areas that are important from policy point of view. The paper first reviews the trends of vehicular growth and availability of transport infrastructure in Indian cities. This is followed by a discussion on the nature and magnitude of urban transport problems such as congestion, pollution and road accidents. Building on this background, the paper proposes policy measures to improve urban transportation in India. Keywords: Urban Transport; Transport Policy; India. 1. Introduction India is urbanising. Its urban population is growing at an average rate of around 3% per year. The average rate of growth of the urban population is not expected to change significantly during the next ten years or so. Assuming decadal increase of around 32%, India’s urban population is expected to increase from 377 million in 2011 to 500 million in 2021. In terms of percentage of total population, the urban population has gone up from 17% in 1951 to 31.8% in 2011 and is expected to increase up to around 35% by the year 2021. During the 2000s, 91 million people joined the ranks of urban dwellers – which implies that the growth rate in urban areas remains almost the same during the last Corresponding author: Sanjay Kumar Singh ([email protected]) 1 European Transport \ Trasporti Europei (2012) Issue 52, Paper n° 5, ISSN 1825-3997 twenty years; urban population increased by 31.5% from 1991 to 2001 and 31.8% from 2001 to 2011. However, the number of metropolitan cities – those with a million plus population – has increased sharply over this period. From 35 in 2001, the number of metropolitan cities rose to 50 according to the Census of India, 2011. Out of these 50, eight cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Pune – have population more than 5 million. India’s big cities now account for a larger share of total urban population – a trend that has been observed since independence. In 2011, the share of metropolitan cities was 42.3%, up from 37.8% in 2001 and 27.7% in 1991. The distribution of urban population by city size widely varies and is skewed towards larger cities. One specific feature of India’s urbanization is the increasing metropolitanization, that is, growth in the number and size of cities with a million plus population. The trends indicate the continued urbanization and metropolitaniztion in the years to come. Often, there is a debate as to whether it is an index of development or distress. The very process of urbanization has sometimes been looked as something undesirable. While the objections used to be on social and moral grounds earlier, the criticism lately is more on economic grounds such as provision of requisite infrastructure and civic amenities at rapidly escalating per capita costs (Padam and Singh, 2004). Despite all the objections, the rate of urbanization has not even retarded, not to speak of its being halted. Certain inevitability about the process is being accepted steadily. It is now felt that urbanization is necessary for the benefits of sharing modern technology for the growth and development of the entire national economy. In India, urban areas contribute more than sixty percent of the national income. In the coming years, as India becomes more and more urbanized, urban areas will play a critical role in sustaining high rates of economic growth. But, economic growth momentum can be sustained if and only if cities function efficiently - that their resources are used to maximize the cities’ contribution to national income. Economic efficiency of cities and well-being of urban inhabitants are directly influenced by mobility or the lack of it. City efficiency largely depends upon the effectiveness of its transport systems, that is, efficacy with which people and goods are moved throughout the city. Poor transport systems stifle economic growth and development, and the net effect may be a loss of competitiveness in both domestic as well as international markets. Although Indian cities have lower vehicle ownership rate than their counterparts in developed countries, they suffer from worse congestion, delay, pollution, and accidents than the cities in developed countries. In Kolkata, for example, average speed during peak hours in Central Business District (CBD) area goes down as low as around 10 Km/h. The problem of congestion and delays is not only faced by Kolkata but also by most of the big cities which indicates both the amount of time and energy that are wasted and the scale of opportunity for improvement. A high level of pollution is another undesirable feature of overloaded streets. The transport crisis also takes a human toll. Statistics indicate that traffic accidents are a primary cause of accidental deaths in the Indian cities. The main reason for all these is the prevailing imbalance in modal split besides inadequate transport infrastructure and its sub-optimal use. Public transport systems in cities have not been able to keep pace with the rapid and substantial increases in demand over the past few years. As a result, people have turned towards personalized modes such as mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, and cars and intermediate public 2 European Transport \ Trasporti Europei (2012) Issue 52, Paper n° 5, ISSN 1825-3997 transport modes such as auto-rickshaws, tempos, and taxis. Cities cannot afford to cater only to the private vehicles and there has to be a general recognition that policy should be designed in such a way that reduces the need to travel by personalized modes and boosts public transport particularly bus transport system. Much needs to be done if public transport is to play a significant role in the life of a city. Measures need to be taken to enhance the quality as well as quantity of public transport services and to impose constraints on the use of private vehicles. People should also be encouraged to use non-motorized transport and investments may be made to make it safer. It must not be forgotten that cities are the major contributors to economic growth, and movement in and between cities is crucial for improved quality of life (Singh, 2005). 2. Vehicular growth and availability of transport infrastructure in metropolitan cities During the year 2009, 115 million vehicles were plying on Indian roads (Table 1). According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, the annual rate of growth of motor vehicle population in India has been around 10% during last decade. The basic problem is not the number of vehicles in the country but their concentration in a few selected cities, particularly in metropolitan cities. From 1999 to 2009, number of vehicles per 1000 people in metropolitan cities has increased more than two-fold from 132 to 286 (Figure 1). Vehicle ownership rate, number of vehicles per 1000 people, in many big cities including Delhi has already crossed the mark of 400. There are at least 5 metropolitan cities having vehicle ownership rate in excess of 500. It is interesting to note that nearly 35% of the total vehicles in the country are plying in metropolitan cities alone, which constitute just around 11% of the total population. During the year 2009, nearly 15 million vehicles were plying in four big cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad) alone, which constitute 16.6% of all motor vehicles in the country (Table 2). Delhi, the capital of India, which contains around 1.4% of Indian population, accounts for nearly 7% of all motor vehicles in the country. Traffic composition in Indian cities is of a mixed nature. There is a wide variety of about a dozen types of both slow and fast-moving vehicles. Two-wheelersi and cars account for over 85% of the vehicle population in most of the metropolitan cities. They account for at least 90% of total vehicles in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Vadodara, Varanasi, and Vishakhapatnam. Two-wheelers alone account for more than 80% of the total vehicles in number of metropolitan cities. For example, during the year 2009, in Nagpur (84%), Varanasi (84%), Surat (83%), Coimbatore (83%), Madurai (82%), Bhopal (81%), Kanpur (81%), Vadodara (81%), Vishakhapatnam (81%), and Lucknow (80%), two-wheelers accounted for at least 80% of the total vehicles.